


Relight

by TFALokiwriter



Category: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Genre: 21st Century, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, December 9th 2020, M/M, SN8 high altitude flight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27998106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: Dracula attends the maiden flight of StarshipSN8
Relationships: Dracula/Jonathan Harker
Kudos: 4





	Relight

"Dracula, where are you going?"

"To watch the historic flight, it's set to go in one hour."

Jonathan was surprised, the count had said earlier that he was going to watch it on his device but he wasn't shocked that his older companion wanted to do that. He briefly lowered his book with his gaze briefly on Dracula then turned his attention down, easily multitasking, a skill that the young lawyer had built upon for the last hundred so years.

"A hour isn't that long." Jonathan said. "Something that soon; it'll be over once you get there."

"Oh, but it is. . . and it won't." Dracula confirmed then denied in the same breath. "This Starship's flight is very monumental to our way of life."

"How?"

"My dear Jonathan, it means we can go and eat meals in the next hundred years on another planet that won't have the direct impacts of stupidity, arrogance, and denial."

"Being on a different planet won't feel the way it should be for you."

"And you." Dracula countered. "This is your home planet. The planet you were born. The only planet you know."

"Yours, too." Jonathan reminded as he looked up from his book. 

Dracula was quiet for a long time thinking over the depressing issue of leaving their planet for better living conditions.

"I shall admit, it will be shameful, saddening, and disappointing just to leave this planet so I can follow the meals leaving the planet in droves when the time comes."

Dracula came over to the nearby dog then beckoned it over and gestured it toward the machine that he had constructed which gave out treat. He patted on the dog's head after the dog did the trick as had been taught fairly quickly a week ago. Jonathan laughed at the corgi that picked up the two treats then joined the older companion. The machines were all set for a possible absence should their meals not be able to be in the exact mood to care for them while Dracula was away.

"Used to be a exciting prospect with the feat of technology and something to see as a secondary planet for humans to have a option of live on and travel to as a vacation spot. . ." Dracula paused, squeezing his eyes shut if only briefly, bothered by the sudden change in his view of Mars. "I never expected that Mars could become plan B."

Dracula looked out the window toward the dark sky.

"It's hard to live on a dying planet with the preferred meal being displaced and authorities keeping track of them." Dracula commented.

"If the future that this spacecraft leads to is likely, then why go?"

Dracula packed several face masks into his pocket as a additional precaution much to the surprise of his companion. Packing masks used to feel like something that didn't natural, right, or something that would fit into their routine but now it was a normal task to do before leaving the castle. Their current residing meals were resting in the bedroom that was the guest room for the time being, no where to go, no one to take them in, just Dracula's castle that provided shelter for their dwindling existence. Dracula was quiet as he sighed then shifted toward the younger vampire.

"I missed the Wright Brother's first flight last time," Dracula replied. "This historic flight will not be missed. The first uncrewed flight, I will be there." He shook his finger from side to side then lowered his hand. "The first crewed flight, I will be there."

"You are still not over it."

"Never will be over it!"

Jonathan shook his head with laughter.

"As your exit plan gets closer for Earth, you still want to attend it?"

"Despite the bleak future for humanity that leads them to plan B, a vessel that brings us to a better tomorrow getting closer by each passing month is something worth being excited about."

Dracula sat down into the chair across from Jonathan then picked up his walking stick that was left discarded against the chair.

"I waited a entire day watching it on this device," Dracula held up his phone -- "and with this new t-minus count down, it strikes me that being there is better than watching it." -- then lowered his phone and placed it into the side pocket of his pants.

"Eating human food on Mars," Jonathan said. "In the life I used to lead, eating food on the Moon was a idea that people entertained. . ." Jonathan looked aside, fondly, at the dreams that was shared of colonizing space with his friends, colleagues, and family. His smile faded as something occurred to him then shifted his attention upon Dracula. "We _are_ going to colonize the moon with the Artemis Program before that. A research base on the moon is more likely to happen before Mars."

"With Spacex building and maintaining it." Dracula added.

"True." Jonathan said with a nod. "On the other hand, the crew greeting the NASA team there like heroes---"

"Is very funny." Dracula stifled back a laugh with ease. "Because the SpaceX workers are the heroes. Not them." he nodded at the subject. "Yes, moon comes first then Mars."

"It'll be nice to see the martian landscape." Jonathan said. "Behind a window." Jonathan shook his head then frowned, quite bothered, but reluctant to accept that new environment and call it a new normal. "It will still be strange."

Dracula shared the same sentiment; his eyes shifting toward the window of the study with his hands on his hips admiring the scenery outside that showed signs of life, green, water, blue sky, and clouds. All of these were kind and hospital features where what Dracula was more familiar to as a vampire, living in day and day out.

He cringed at what his mind was playing on a set of tracks leading out of the normal that sustained his meals currently; becoming familiar to everything that was counter to life flourishing on the planet was a prospect that was once excited for but with the impacts of the planet being heated and hurricanes being relatively made more common by more water because of the ice melting; it wasn't exciting in the very least.

Living in a building but requiring spacesuits to go out and having a little more difficulty getting rid of the dried out corpses. It was a nightmare to consider and he didn't want to think about it, but here Dracula was thinking about it. His mind drifted off to his garden then he sighed. Another garden would be needed to be made and fought for against the terrain of the landscape in whatever contraption would be built by the humans to make parks against the terrain, the weather, what not. A fact resurfaced on his mind so he smiled, relaxed, at ease. The whole matter would be taken care of, there would be a garden to get rid of the corpses and if it were necessary to terraform a little section of Mars on his own then it was a necessity. 

"However, we have to wait for a hundred years before we can step foot on another planet."

"Why?" Jonathan asked.

"If we go immediately, we would be under the microscope and people would instantly know that I am very well alive and thriving like a weed." Dracula turned in the direction of the younger vampire. "Being staked a day after stepping foot on the grounds of Mars isn't very ideal."

"It isn't." Jonathan agreed.

"More than welcome to join me, my dear. You know where to find me."

"Of course."

Dracula exited the castle then closed the door behind him. Jonathan was reading a novel that he held in his hand for a few minutes as the thought of seeing a silver craft from the old pictures flying nagged at him, the nature of it, the surreal, the disbelief, the feasibility, the impossibility, and the fact that it existed and was going to fly this time. He recalled Dracula's irritation with the delays that earned his screech, the scrubs -- screaming into a pillow--, and swearing at his device whenever there was the loud audible word 'of HOLD'. The vampire hadn't been so audibly angry at that word with the Falcon 9 launches.

Why be so angry that a Starship prototype wasn't launching? _Unless_ , it had a chance of actually landing. Unless, it had a actual chance of launching today. Unless, it had a actual chance of flying in the air. There was so many _unlesses_ that it should have been considered criminal to consider that a private space company was going to lead their meals and figures that lurked into the night into the future of colonizing planets, asteroids, moons, and solar systems that were all in their palms of what could be done. Jonathan marked the page with a bookmark then set it into the bookshelf then made his way out putting on a jacket then exited the castle.

He turned into a bat and flew on after the count. It was a fast flight, a being of the supernatural, a being of the dark, a being of oddity. He flew faster than most bats would be able to with sheer determination; obviously making it to the location was going to be easier done then said. Jonathan flew until he saw the familiar landscape of Florida fly up into his line of vision as the darkness had retreated replaced by the bright blue sky with clouds. He flew on and on making it to the destination that had been shown to him on a map when they went to see the last three hops; Starhopper, SN5, SN6. The coordinates were still fresh on the young vampire's mind as he got closer to the destination in mind.

Jonathan turned into his natural form then landed beside the elder Vampire, weaker, his strength sapped away, his powered up form now appearing to be on low power with shades of gray and lines that weren't there before among other vampires that were underneath a large blue tent which was significantly more than what the younger vampire had expected. The lines were a familiar feature of the older vampire who showed remarkable restraint in feasting on the first living creature that came into his field of vision when they ran into a dry spell, the times where Dracula's dark hair turned to gray were often enough that it wasn't unnatural to see the older vampire grayed.

Dracula smiled -- his eyes portraying that as his facial features were hidden by a face mask -- then beckoned Jonathan over while holding on to the golden tip of his walking stick, with a empty seat right beside him so that is where Jonathan sat down. Dracula handed a face mask to Jonathan so it was put on after being offered. Many of the vampires were appearing to be graying underneath the tent as though they too had made the power straining journey. 

"Four minutes!" came a loud announcement by someone at the back.

"This is going to be scrubbed at the very last minute." another complained.

"Possibly." Another spoke. "But SpaceX is very surprising. Very much."

"How far are we from the launch site?" Jonathan asked.

"We're not in the evacuation zone." Dracula was silent as another vampire replied for him.

"So safe enough." Another added.

Jonathan's attention returned to the distant site of the bullet shaped craft with smoke coming from the farm and the craft itself.

"Any last words before the 21st century really starts, Mr Harker?" Dracula asked, curious.

"This really cannot be happening." Jonathan said.

"Just like the airplanes popping up all over the world." Dracula mused.

"Petri dishes." a vampire at the back grunted then wept. "That human has delayed us getting our meals easily until the middle of summer at our favorite hunting grounds." Jonathan looked toward the European Vampire that was missing a eye in one socket while his prosthetic eye was being played with in the other hand. "I used to LOVE planes but now I hate them with a burning passion that cannot be rivaled by the likes of Hell."

"Our hunting grounds will have to be anywhere but America for the next year." Spoke another vampire, quite solemnly.

Jonathan shifted his attention away.

"It has to be a dream." Jonathan said, staring at the distant object. It was so tiny that it couldn't be more of a spaceraft but a distant thin building. "Is it going to happen? Is it going to be successful?" Dracula listened intently to what the young vampire had to say about the entire event that was to happen and nodded along. "Are we part of a montage leading up to joining the Galactic Federation? Is this just for PR stunt for a movie?"

"There _is_ actually a Galactic Federation." Dracula revealed. "Humanity isn't ready for it to be confirmed by world leaders."

Jonathan's jaw dropped as Dracula turned his attention away toward the distant specter. Smoke erupted in the distance and the crowd gasped in shock at the spectacle. Jonathan's jaw fell down a little further watching a spacecraft that he had only seen in television fly up into the sky as Dracula smirked watching it fly into the sky becoming smaller and tinier with each passing minute. The vampires roared, bolting from their seats, cheering on the spacecraft. Eventually, Dracula and Jonathan joined the crowd from the side looking on trying to spot the prototype in the sky.

"I can't see it!"

"That crazy son of a bitch did it!"

"It's so beautiful that I can't see it!"

"Oh holy shit, we must be ants to it."

Dracula was quiet apart from everyone, staring on in awe

"She is breaking every single expectation." His words weren't loud but quiet and looked so happy.

Jonathan's attention was fixated on the falling craft.

"The raptors, they're off!"

"I wish Satan was here to see this."

"We're here in his stead, Ashiqul."

"Oh!"

"She is gliding!"

"Go, little girl!"

"She is falling with style!"

"Woot woot woot!"

Jonathan was stunned watching the craft shift in position falling in to the sky in the most unexpected ways possible. Dracula watched with pride as the prototype was falling quickly down as the cheering continued. The sound of the Raptor engines echoed in Jonathan's ears hearing them roar giving them all.

He heard the sound of raptors roar against the sound of cheering from the nearby city as the craft descended. The relight of the raptors earned a roar from the vampires in celebration as the rumble from the raptors was heard for miles. They watched the light was replaced by a bright green as the craft descended down to the ground then the group of vampires gasped in horror at Starship's descent except for Dracula.

"She is not going to make it!"

"She is going too fast!"

"Oh no, her raptors eating iron!"

They watched the craft vanish in a sea of smoke and fire.

"The header tank didn't have enough pressure!"

"Damn, not enough fuel for the second raptor then."

"That was magnificent."

"More data!"

Dracula turned toward his companion.

"My dear Jonathan, how would you feel about coming back and watching SN9's flight?" Dracula asked.

Jonathan was at a loss of words as he were still processing the destruction of a million dollar spacecraft.

"Mr Harker?"

Dracula put a hand on his shoulder then Jonathan turned toward him spotting that the man bore a concerned look.

"But. . . starships. . . exploding . . ." Jonathan recalled vividly the demise of other rockets, of Falcon 9's being destroyed leading up to Falcon Heavy; it was ingrained in his memory. "that's supposed to be a total _disaster_."

"No, it isn't." Dracula shook his head with the smallest of smiles on the tips of his lips, fondly, upon the younger vampire. "It did as everyone in the Space community expected of it." Dracula looked on toward the area where the fallen spacecraft had left a wreckage behind. "Next up, SN9."

"So this could happen in two weeks?" Jonathan asked, as the other vampires were high fiving each other.

"Or more." Dracula noted. "This is SpaceX. It could take a month in Elon time."

"What are we going to do until then, Count Dracula?" Jonathan asked. "Stick around? Go home?"

Dracula grew a broad grin in response to Jonathan's question.

"This is Texas, Jonathan." Dracula reminded then gestured a hand off to the distance away from the launch site. "We feast on those who support a coup against the Democracy."

And it wasn't even a bad idea as Jonathan smiled underneath the face mask.

**Author's Note:**

> Mars night appearance -- https://astronomy.com/news/2016/06/what-do-the-stars-look-like-from-mars
> 
> Also, I love this Mars related artwork--> https://cnet3.cbsistatic.com/img/VHy2pPPiUTNTtmn3YgfFGzJSJPk=/1200x675/2018/06/01/fbaefb04-fee8-46fe-86f1-d3d7badc441f/mars-bfrs.jpg 
> 
> and this https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W5uEEHcqoYE/XJVml8shvlI/AAAAAAAADjI/6-ogvJanHUE4LT8uthFELjRH5kyooM8_gCLcBGAs/s1600/Official%2Brender%2Bof%2BSpaceX%2BStarship%2Blanding%2Bat%2BMars%2BBase%2BAlpha.jpg
> 
> And this https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bqDKokp18Ko/XJVmpBegeJI/AAAAAAAADjM/k2BFm9_GQkYqpX1iR4o9YZdiq0LlXxPIACLcBGAs/s1600/Official%2Brender%2Bof%2BSpaceX%2BStarship%2Bapproaching%2BMars%2BBase%2BAlpha.jpg
> 
> and this --> https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6c2wOF9HCrY/XJVmrW7gVgI/AAAAAAAADjQ/UpPf35DDXiEnb93YgO1zs-_4F-uJnqC9QCLcBGAs/s1600/Official%2Brender%2Bof%2BSpaceX%2BMars%2BBase%2BAlpha.jpg
> 
> Galactic Federation --> https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news/former-israeli-space-security-chief-says-extraterrestrials-exist-trump-knows-n1250333
> 
> Texas fighting the election to the supreme court against biden's win --> https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/12/10/18-states-join-texas-general-election-supreme-court-lawsuit-swing-states/


End file.
